Thursday, October 16, 2008

Really ?!?!

I was reading Fox News this morning and found an article about this sticker....

The article I was reading explained it this way:

"The signs began arriving last week in the mailboxes of the about 1,200 violent and child-sex offenders across Maryland. The signs were accompanied by a letter explaining they must stay at home, turn off outside lights and not answer the door on Halloween."

"Halloween provides a rare opportunity for you to demonstrate to your neighbors that you are making a sincere effort to change the direction of your life," the letter to sex offenders reads.

"Because Halloween is a holiday in which large numbers of children interact with strangers, the concern among parents and other community members about sexual offenders in their neighborhoods is naturally intensified during this time of year," Patrick McGee, interim director of the state's Division of Parole and Probation, wrote in the Oct. 1 letter.

Ok, so I can completely see the concern about having your kids go door to door when there are predators out there, but I am not sure I agree with REQUIRING sex offenders to post this on their door. It is a great way to prevent soemthing from happening, but you can go online and find where all the registered sex offenders are in your neighborhood and just avoid their homes. I feel like this is unfair to those sex offenders that are trying to turn their life around and move on from prior mistakes. I mean, I guess the stickers can't hurt....but I am always more on the side of allowing people the opportunity to grow from their mistakes and move on and I feel like if someone were trying to get past this mistake in their history...this is just a reminder and re-punishing them for a crime. Not to say it is not a punishable crime, I just feel like this is over the top when we can ALREADY go online and find the registered sex offenders.

God has been showing about his grace over the last 6 months a lot. No matter what sin we will EVER commit, he already forgave us KNOWING ALL of our SINS! How amazing is that. He didn't make us do anything...and yet forgave us and accepted us. This coming from a Man that knows NO sin and can NOT have sin in his prescense. In America, if you commit a crime and then later regret your mistake and have the true desire to make your life right, it doesn't matter. You still have to serve your time and even then, you still may be rejected and will always be seen as an ex-con. It is just amazing to me. God forgave us knowing we will CONTINUE to sin and STILL chose to forgive us. Unreal! So many times, I try and understand God through my human mind-set and I can't. He is so much bigger than I can ever understand....which is why he is always fresh and new to us.

Anyways...what are your thoughts on the pumpkin sticker?

DISCLAIMER: This post is NOT by any means suggesting that I condone or support sex offenders. I think they are disgusting and very worthy of every punishment they get. I just thought the sticker might be a little over the top.

2 comments:

Jenn said...

i think its pretty ridiculous too. and maybe its because i have a friend whose dad was registered as a sex offender ... he isn't but some extreme mishap happened and he was 'labeled' as one ...

anyway - i dont think we need to redletter ppl .. i think parents should just be wise.

Mags said...

Omg, tonya I understand your genuine concerns for forgiveness and second chances, however with few exceptions, sex offenders - those that prey on innocent children - are very rarely ever rehabilitated. As a matter of fact, most will tell you their urges to have with small children never go away. Do some research on this. As someone who has had many friends who were victimized as children and whose hearts and souls have still not healed, I can tell you this is absolutely necessary. Yes, parents should take precautions, but we can't protect our children from absolutely every evil that lurks around....these laws were enacted to protect children. Not the offender. They lost their right to anonymity the day they decided to violate a child. And yes, I know there are exceptions to the rules, but the safety of children should far outweigh the inconvenience of those who got caught up in technicalities.

"I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well."



~Psalm 139:14